Young’s Double Chocolate Stout $3.99 @ Bevmo

After having tried out Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout, I was actually thinking that Young’s Double Chocolate would be more of the same except even more chocolaty than Samuel Smith’s version but boy was I surprised when that anticipation of the heavy chocolate flavor never materialized upon the first sip. Like Samuel Smith, it pours a rather dark color, akin to a typical Coca Cola, but this one has an arguably lighter body. It’s fairly easy to drink and the chocolate flavor doesn’t become apparent until after its gone down the gullet.

If anything, the chocolate flavor is more of an aftertaste as oppose to it being the main focal point. You only really get a whiff of it when you breathe in some air through your mouth as you drink it. When you do that, then you really notice where the “double chocolate” aspects come into play. But if you sip it mouth closed while breathing through your nose, you can’t really make it out the chocolate flavors unless the roof of your mouth and tongue are particularly sensitive.

This one’s “best by date” is next year in the middle of July so I was actually expecting the full brunt of its flavor profile to come to the fore but sadly, it didn’t matter for this one. Well, to be fair, I haven’t tried one yet that is past the best by date but Samuel Smith’s? That one was past the best by date by a few months. But that one left more of an impression than this one and this is still well within its peak and the bottle itself claims that it is a “double chocolate stout.” I was expecting a darker, heavier chocolate flavor while it still being a beer of sorts but it didn’t turn out that way.

It bears noting that unlike Samuel Smith’s beer that left a sticky residue on one’s lips after sipping it a few times, that this one doesn’t really leave much of a residue. Fairly clean all around. Also, there’s not much of a carbonation here either. Just a hint but not really the main focus.

On an overall level though, it’s okay. It’s an okay beer. But between this and Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate beer, I would choose Samuel Smith’s version hands down–at least until I’ve tried other chocolate stouts down the line. Nevertheless, I think you should give it a try. If nothing else, it’s another imported chocolate stout on the market other than what the craft brews and micro brews are cooking up in the industry and it’ll give you a base point of reference for where to gauge quality chocolate stouts from one’s that try to replicate it but are just not up to snuff in one respect or another.